My dad died when I was 14 1/2....he never took me shooting, though he had a .22 Rem 121 and .35 Rem 141 pumps....by the time I was 15 1/2, I'd gotten a part-time job and bought my first...a High Standard R104 .22 4"....put 500 rds through it every weekend till I could shoot...before I was 16 I had 15 handguns in my desk drawer....the 68 Fed law hadn't passed yet and I'd found a local dealer who liked green enough to turn his back to the counter while "my mother" signed the state book....the weekend before the 68 law went into effect, I put out $61.50 for a Mod 58 S&W .41 mag....those were good days.....

Hi from Portugal!
I have been raised in an anti-gun family.
The first time I shot a gun I was 18. A HK G3 7,62mm of the Portuguese Army. Now I´m 33 and I´m still in the Army, still love shooting and have a handgun of my own. The next one is coming this summer. Here in Portugal law is not friendly to gun lovers......

I have/had (they have passed on) two cousins that were way into guns of all kinds. I was about seven or eight, the first time they took me shooting. I recall shooting several types of handguns that first time, all were revolvers. Most were .22s and at least one was a larger caliber. They started to take me fairly often. I recall, that on my 10th birthday, they gave me a .410/.22 - over & under shotgun/rifle. I think it was a Savage. They also gave me a 9 shot .22 cal. revolver but I cannot recall the brand. That was between 55 & 58 years ago. My, how quickly time has passed!

I shot my fathers 2 inch python (loaded with .38 though) at 7 years old and have been hooked since then. That was in 1976. That's where my love of Pythons began. He bought me my own Python when I turned 18 and I've since bought numerous more. I also now own the 2 inch python I shot over 30 years ago.

Not to sound like an old , I'm only 48, but things were definately different when I was a kid. My first handgun was given to me by my dad when I was around 13 years old. It was a reblued Walther P-38 and I loved it. My dad taught & trusted me to be responsible with firearms. People were also more gun-friendly, heck I remember walking around with my .22 rifle in the neighborhood...there was a lot of woods around our home.

First handgun, around 12. Fathers High Standard 9-shot da revolver, SA style grip, Nickel. My brother has that now (darn him)
Had been shooting .22's for about 2-3 years with my dad and older borther. Tried dads 16ga at about 11. He stood behind me to catch me when it kicked (sitting on the porch steps.) I still love that gun. Its a featherlight though so it kicks like a mule

When I was about 10, my dad drug home an old car from the junkyard and was fixing it up as usual.(we never had good cars,lol)

Anyway ,I found a .22lr H&R revolver under the front seat.It had some rust on one side where it had been stuck to the carpet for so long.Since I've alway's been a tinkerer,taking it apart and cleaning everything was fairly simple.I let my 12 year old brother in on my find and he recalled seeing some bullets out in the barn.Sure enough,sitting up on a shelf in the old tack room was a jar of .22 ammo that was left by the old farmer who rented the house to us.(I know what your thinking....There's gonna be trouble) The only trouble we had was our oldest brother and his teenager friends taking it from us when they heard us shooting at cans in the back field. He wanted to know where we got it,so when we told him,he claimed that it was his and he left it there....who were we to argue???I never saw it again....

Living in NY state for 47 years along with having to wait 18 months to get a permit made it a tad bit hard to buy or get into Handguns. I owned shotguns since I was 18 but never a pistol.

I moved to VA this past Oct and couldn't wait for the 30 days before I was able to buy a handgun. I purchased a Taurus PT 92 AF and love shooting either at Blue ridge Arsenal or Clark Bros, both in Northern VA.

Both my son (21ys) and I have become avid shooters, and try to go twice a week.

I think its time to invest in a reloader, as it is getting expensive....

Loved my air guns as a kid. My first was a Daisy "Golden Eagle" (same as a Red Ryder). I outgrew that right away and purchased a Crossman 760 pump.....put scope on it.......took the scope off. Then I got into air pistols. Bought a Crossman 1911 clone (Spring powered) that was a piece of crap. Then I picked up a Daisy (?) Co2 powered pistol. It worked better but I thought the Co2 cartridges ran out of gas too fast. I was looking at getting a pump pistol......but then girls started to enter the picture and I forgot all about guns .

25 years later.....lol; I just purchased my first "powder" powered handgun......a Ruger Mark III competition target. Having a great time with it so far. Will be joining a local "Mens Pistol League" and shooting Bullseye and maybe some silhouette.

When I was about 13 or so, my dad pulled some strings with a friend of his and got us a tour of the FBI's HQ in NYC.

At the end, we got to see their shooting range - and got to shoot my dad's friend's service revolver. That was the coolest thing I had done up untill that point, and still ranks up there. I've still got the target I shot, and that was well over 20 years ago!